Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate for the Labour Party has stated that he would remove fuel subsidy if elected president of Nigeria in 2023.
Obi disclosed this in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday morning, stating that the money spent on fuel subsidy will be channelled to other sectors of the economy.
He added that to remove fuel subsidy, Nigerians need to trust their government into passing the cost into areas that affect human development, especially health, education and power.
What Obi is saying
Obi said, “In the last 10 years, the subsidy has got over $40 billion. It’s a sinking pipe. That is; we spent over $40 billion on subsidy.
“Total education expenditure in the past 12 years is about N8 trillion. So in 10 years about N8 trillion.”
“The most critical areas of development are health and education, with an expenditure less than fuel subsidy”
“If we spent the next $20 billion in power, we would have been generating at least 20,000 MW.
“Subsidy spending alone would have solved a lot of our issues in education, in health, and in power, if we had 20kMW in electricity we will be growing 4% and added $100 billion in GDP.
“Everything has to be…I will remove it and offer useful resources, you must be able to offer something in replacement of what you are trying to do.
The former Anambra State Governor said that Nigeria can not continue to spend $40 billion on subsidy without a commensurate delivery in value.
“Meanwhile, your critical sectors receive less than 50% of the sum. Is subsidy more important than health & education?” he said.
In case you missed it
- In April, Nairametrics reported that following the approval of a revised 2022 budget by the Nigerian Senate, an upward review of the budget amount for petrol subsidy for 2022 by N442.72billion, from N3.557 trillion to N4 trillion was effected.
- Recently, President Buhari in an interview with Bloomberg stated why he refused the call by the World Bank and IMF to remove the fuel subsidy and to unify the exchange rate. President Muhammadu Buhari said “most western countries are today implementing fuel subsidies. Why would we remove ours now? What is good for the goose is good for the gander!”
- “My government set in motion plans to remove the subsidy late last year. After further consultation with stakeholders, and as events unfolded this year, such a move became increasingly untenable. Boosting internal production for refined products shall also help,” he added.
